Digital data sets that describe aquifer characteristics of the alluvial and terrace deposits along the Beaver-North Canadian River from the panhandle to Canton Lake in northwestern Oklahoma

This data set consists of digital polygons of a constant
recharge value for the alluvial and terrace deposits along the
Beaver-North Canadian River from the panhandle to Canton Lake in
northwestern Oklahoma. Ground water in 830 square miles of the
Quaternary-age alluvial and terrace aquifer is an important
source of water for irrigation, industrial, municipal, stock,
and domestic supplies. The aquifer consists of poorly sorted,
fine to coarse, unconsolidated quartz sand with minor amounts of
clay, silt, and basal gravel. The hydraulically connected
alluvial and terrace deposits unconformably overlie the
Tertiary-age Ogallala Formation and Permian-age formations.

A recharge rate of 1 inch per year was estimated in the
ground-water modeling report for the alluvial and terrace
deposits and used in this data set. The recharge rate was
estimated using a base-flow method and a monthly-water-balance
method.

The features in the data set representing boundaries along
geological contacts were extracted from a published digital
surficial geology data set based on a scale of 1:250,000. The
geographic limits of the aquifer were digitized from a folded
paper map, at a scale of 1:250,000 in the ground-water
modeling report.

Ground-water flow models are numerical representations that
simplify and aggregate natural systems. Models are not unique;
different combinations of aquifer characteristics may produce
similar results. Therefore, values of recharge used in the
model and presented in this data set are not precise, but are
within a reasonable range when compared to independently
collected data.